L’Chaim!
I love a food ritual.
Thanksgiving, Passover, those are my days.
Passover is the only night I ever eat slowly. The ceremony is simply wonderful. We flick drops of wine with our fingernails to represent the 10 plagues brought on the Israelites by the Egyptians. We spill more wine to represent the loss of the Egyptian opressors’ first born sons. We eat tasteless, cardboard-like unleavened bread because opressed people don’t get yummy fresh baked bread. There is no time for bread to rise when you are escaping a land for freedom. We eat bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of slavery and oppression, we dip parsley in salt water to remember the tears of the Egyptians when God inflicted 10 plagues upon them, and the tears of the enslaved before that. We ate sweet charoset (made by yours truly): apples, wine, walnuts and cinnamon to remember the sweetness of freedom. We flicked more wine on our plates to remember each oppression and war and enslavement that is currently taking place around the globe today. And then:
Homeade matzoh ball soup!!!!
Homeade organic grass-fed brisket, roasted all day long!!
Honey carrots
Turnip greens
Edamame salad
fresh green salad
sticky sweet kosher wine
hazelnut flourless chocolate torte
peanut butter and chocolate bars
Once a year is not enough for this glorious ritual of feast.
She Who Eats 
No noodle coogle?
Your post brought back warm memories of the Seders of my youth. My Great Uncle would officiate the ceremony. He brought a wonderful sense of glee and humor to the proceedings–achieving the perfect balance of levity and dignity. And he always included a dollar bill in the paper towel that held the afikomen.
By the way, if you’re truly gung-ho for another night of feasting, follow the Orthodox tradition and celebrate a second Seder the following night
Hey, just thought I would let you know that the JewishTvNetwork has some really cool recipes for passover on their website. They are so good, you cannot even tell they are especially made for passover! Check it out at http://www.jewishtvnetwork.com
hello there,
i came here by way of kan’s blog (C and i grew up at the same church) and this post caught my eye. i’m pretty thrilled to have married a (mostly secular) jewish guy. passover has been one of my favorite holidays. my husband’s traditional food of choice is vegetable kugel made with grated sweet potatoes, apples, carrots and matzo meal. my (goyish) father-in-law is in charge of delicious matzo ball soup made from one of their farm chickens.
this year my husband made a sephardic olive oil and dark chocolate mousse for dessert. every year there’s been this great mix of old standbys and new experiments. i just love it.